The small provider can and should achieve HIPAA compliance easily. You may have non-standard claims denied and violating privacy can result in fines and prison terms. Now is the time to comply with the e-commerce and privacy requirements of HIPAA.

The typical practice can achieve HIPAA compliance in 24 person hours. This time adds all the time spent by all the staff in the first year.

This 26-page manual includes training essays, a notice of privacy practices, a spreadsheet to computer benefits of ecommerce, and virtually everything else you need to know -- forms, policies, procedures, spreadsheets, training material, audit tables, and contracts.

The manual has been well received. It is comprehensive yet concise and provides a step-by-step recipe for compliance while being readable. By using this manual, small providers are taking the initiative to define the standard of care expected and are responding in the affirmative to their offer from the federal government to make HIPAA compliance practical.

Feedback on the manual from health care providers, lawyers, compliance officers, and others has been consistently positive. The general view is:

What a relief to find something easy to implement. We have felt that this is what small practices needed.

I have written 200,000 word descriptions of HIPAA. However, what the small provider needs is a short, do-it-yourself cookbook, and so I combined my experience with many small providers and my knowledge of HIPAA into this manual.